Chapter 175: Friendship and the Game

Since Sirius's release, Wade felt that his image of Lupin as a gentle and kind elder was gradually being shattered.

Lupin had become much more lively and, from time to time, revealed a subtly mischievous side.

Of course, when he was with Wade, he was still that warm and tolerant friend.

Lupin glanced out the window and said, "Let's go. The other vanishing cabinet has been placed where you suggested."

That had been Wade's plan, but just now, seeing the way Lupin gazed toward the distant Quidditch pitch without realizing it, Wade suddenly realized something.

"You want to watch Harry's match too, don't you?" Wade asked.

Lupin shook his head. "There will be plenty more matches after this one. Since you think it's important to act now, then we should prioritize the task."

"What I have to do is certainly important, but this match isn't something we should miss."

Wade pressed his hand on the vanishing cabinet door and closed it again.

"Harry flies amazingly well. Professor McGonagall says he's just as good as his father was."

Wade continued, "If we watch the match first, it won't delay us much, but we'll have to hurry to the pitch."

Lupin hesitated briefly, then smiled and accepted Wade's kindness.

He also used a Disillusionment Charm to conceal himself, and followed Wade out of the room as they hurried toward the Quidditch stadium.

Lightning snaked across the sky, and thunder rumbled distantly.

Lupin looked up at the dark clouds and said, "It's going to rain."

"Yeah," Wade replied, glancing upward as well. Suddenly, he chuckled. "For some reason, I have this feeling that all the important matches happen in rainy weather."

Lupin laughed. "How are those two things connected?"

"Muggle movies and TV shows like to present it that way," Wade said.

"You often talk about things related to Muggles, and even your inventions borrow from their ideas." 

Lupin said, "It's quite unusual… because most of the wizards I know from Muggle backgrounds tend to avoid mentioning that world. Once they're adults, they usually choose to live as wizards."

"I come from the Muggle world—why should I ignore it?" Wade countered. "It's been centuries since the witch hunts ended, and yet there's still such a barrier between the two. That's what I find strange."

"Maybe it's because, although many wizards claim to look down on Muggles, deep down they actually find them terrifying," Lupin said. "For us, the harshest punishment is the Cruciatus Curse, which causes unbearable pain. But Muggles…"

"I once read in a book that Muggles invented all kinds of terrifyingly cruel punishments to use against their own kind. Truly brutal… Wade, it's a level of cruelty far beyond what someone your age can imagine."

"Bathilda Bagshot, who wrote A History of Magic, didn't even dare to include those details in her book."

"But wizarding horrors are no less severe than Muggles'!" Wade replied. "I read in A History of Modern Magic that Grindelwald once unleashed Fiendfyre and burned half of Paris?"

Lupin shook his head.

"How many people like Grindelwald exist, who can take lives so easily, without a shred of guilt? He wasn't twisted by dark magic; people like him are born to dwell in darkness."

Lupin continued in a heavy tone, "But most wizards' minds would be warped by dark magic, and killing inflicts irreparable harm on the soul."

Wade thought of Tom Riddle's once-handsome face, which later turned into the noseless horror it became.

That transformation, he knew, was because his soul had been torn apart, causing his body to undergo dreadful mutations as well.

Under the dim, gray sky, the conversation between the two drifted into silence. Each was lost in thoughts of unsettling things, creating an odd, oppressive quiet in the air.

The silence was finally broken by a sudden eruption of cheers from the students.

"It looks like the match has started," Lupin said.

They quickly climbed the stairs, and found a few empty seats at the top of the stands.

As they sat down and looked up like all the other spectators, they saw a dozen players darting swiftly through the air.

Something furry brushed against Wade's side, followed by a pair of enthusiastic barks.

"Sirius?" Lupin, still invisible, spoke up. "I'm over here."

The animal's panting sound suddenly stopped, and a moment later, Sirius's voice complained:

"I can't believe I forgot—I'm invisible now, so I don't need to transform to stay unseen. Remus, Wade, what took you so long? You almost missed the start."

He didn't seem to suspect at all that Lupin might have been intentionally amusing himself.

Lupin replied, "You have four legs, of course you got here faster."

"...True." Sirius quickly brushed it off, and his excitement was undiminished. "Can you spot which one is Harry, Remus? I'll tell you, he's the one flying the highest… he's just as good in the air as James was…"

Wade leaned back in his chair, listened to the two invisible adults next to him chatting, and felt a subtle sense of surprise and admiration.

Anyone who'd gone through what Sirius had might have become withdrawn and gloomy, bitter at the world, perhaps even embittered, paranoid, or unstable. 

But after meeting Sirius this time, Wade noticed that he didn't display any of those dark or painful emotions. If it weren't for his still noticeably thin frame, it would seem as though those eleven years in prison had left no mark on him.

Wade felt that this was truly wonderful.

Surely, such past pain couldn't simply vanish, but Sirius was clearly working to heal himself, finding his old spirited self again with his friends, rather than locking himself in the dark despair of his past prison life.

No wonder Lupin had been acting more cheerful recently… he was probably helping Sirius in his own way.

In the sky, the players on both teams fiercely battled, and with Sirius's commentary, the excitement of the match seemed to double. Wade started to follow the game's progress more clearly.

Suddenly, a chill touched his forehead, and he instinctively closed his eyes before lifting his wand and quietly muttering a spell.

A ring of air shot from the wand tip, forming an invisible umbrella-like shield overhead, large enough to cover all three of them.

"Thank goodness!" Sirius said gratefully, "I hate getting wet."

Wade suddenly felt someone's gaze on him. Turning, he saw Professor Dumbledore nodding in his direction with a gentle smile.

Wade: "..."

"Remus," Wade said, "I think Dumbledore knows you're here."

"Well…" Lupin sighed, "It's not surprising. A skilled wizard can spot the traces of a Disillusionment Charm."

"As long as it's not Professor McGonagall," Sirius said casually. "Dumbledore will probably just pretend not to see us."

He glanced up at the sky, and looked concerned. "Harry wears glasses; the rain will affect him more than his opponent… I wonder if he knows the waterproofing charm."

Wade also looked up at the two teams tangling in mid-air, and wondered, "Will a Bludger go wild again this time?"

With Bludgers zooming around all over the field under the hits of the players on both sides, targeting the Chasers was a common tactic. In the pouring rain and poor visibility, it was impossible to tell if any Bludger had an unusual trajectory.

Zoe and the others are prepared… will Dobby come again?

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